Pedro Sánchez proposed Tuesday in Mauritania the incorporation of 250,000 sub-Saharan workers in Spain as a measure to contain irregular immigration. This reinforces the Growing weight of foreigners in the Spanish labor market: with 3.2 million people, they already represent almost 15% of the total number of workers. Furthermore, one in four employees in the agriculture and construction sectors comes from third countries.
The current boom of the labor market, which has integrated nearly two million workers in just five years, exceeding the 21.6 millioncannot be understood without the significant contribution of migratory flows. And among these nearly two million, 44.3% (1.12 million) are foreigners; and they reach 68.8% (1.3 million) if we add dual nationalities.
Another way of looking at it is to see how much each group of the employed population – that is, those with a job – has increased over the last five years, which together have seen an increase of 9.5%. That of the Spanish has only done so by 3.5% (rising from 16.7 to 17.3 million), while foreigners increased by 34.8% (from 2.4 million to 3.2) and people with dual nationality, 70% (from 658,400 to 1.12 million).
The aging of the Spanish population is evident and a reality in a context Old Continent that with each passing year, this nickname is earned more and more. And for a country in an expansionist cycle, as is the case of Spain, the need manpower It is imperative. In fact, institutions such as the Bank of Spain or the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) are counting heavily on the future of the economy in the coming years until the arrival of the foreign population.
So the same thing that happens with the employed population happens with the active population (with a job or looking for work). 70% of people who entered the job market in the last year are foreignersand in the case of adding dual nationalities, they represent all new workers.
On the contrary, the national labor force decreased by 54,000 people during the same period. Expanding the scope, Ten years ago, there were almost 20 million Spaniards available for work.But since then, more than half a million people have been lost. A trend that, without immigration, would have put the economy on the ropes.
“Migration is not a problem for Spain, but it is a question of moral principles, of solidarity and dignity and, also, of rationality, because It is essential for our economy“, declared the Prime Minister just a few hours ago. Hence the announcement of a circular immigration program that will help fill the shortage of workers.
Agriculture and construction
By sector, the presence of immigrants is uneven. Workers from third countries are particularly numerous in agriculture and construction.where they represent about 25% of the total. In total, of the 772,000 people employed in agriculture, 187,900 are immigrants, while of the almost 1.5 million people employed in construction, almost 350,000 come from outside Spain.
Nevertheless, The largest number of immigrant workers is in the services sectorsince it is the most important sector of the Spanish labor market. Employees from third countries reach 2.3 million people, or 14.2% of the total. In any case, these are sectors that since the end of the covid-19 pandemic have claimed to have difficulty finding employees.
Greater presence of young people
Although the growth of the foreign population in the Spanish labour market is a reality at all ages, it is even more so in certain age groups. Thus, while Among young people and adults up to 45 years of age, workers from third countries represent more than 15%.its proportion decreases as we talk about employment senior.
Specifically, The highest immigration rate is between 25 and 34 years old; In this age group, workers from third countries represent 20.7% of the total. On the contrary, it is among those over 55 that we observe the lowest presence of foreigners, with only 8.6%.
Regarding the employment relationship, out of more than three million foreign workers, the vast majority (85%) are employees, while the remaining 15% are self-employed, i.e. independent workers. The proportion is the same as that observed among the Spanish..
Regarding gender, it should be noted that 54% of workers of foreign origin are menwhile the remaining 46% are women. In addition, Nearly half of the 3.2 million (41.2%) foreign workers come from Latin AmericaThe next group is people from European Union (EU) countries, who represent 28.3% of those employed in third countries.
Finally, in terms of training, Nearly 28% of foreign workers have higher educationwhile just over 7% completed the second cycle of vocationally oriented secondary education.
